Plant for gasifying fuel



NOV- ,3, 1925- Filed May 2. 1921 A. MCD. DUCKHAM @www Patented Nov. 3, 1925'a U NIT S T A T S orric ARTHUB'MODOUGALL DUGKHAM, OF IQNDGN, ENGLAND.

PLANT FOR GASIFYING FUEL.

Application md 'May 2, 1921.

cation of coal or other carbonaceous matter in which one portion of the plant consists of one or more retorts or chambers forthe carbonization ofthe material and the other and usually lower portion consists of a generator for the manufacture of water gas, diiliculty is occasioned by ,the various dillering pressures which occurwithi'n the plant during the periods of blowand run in the manufacture of the water gas. It is usually desired that-the roducts of combustion from the blow period shall not ascend the retorts or chambers and so contaminate the gas made in the carbonizing process, butshall pass from the generator to external liues surrounding` the retorts or chambers and heat the latter. By the present invention the necessity of any valve on the gas outlet of the retorts or chambers which has to be operated at each period of blow or run is avoided.

For this purpose the outlet pipe from the retort or chamber is hydraulically sealed, and the depth of the seal is made to depend on the pressure of gas at the upper portion of the generator'. By this means,.=should the pressure of the gas at the upper portion of the generator increase, the level of the water in that portion of the pot c which seals the take-olf pipe a of the retort will bev caused to rise, and consequently th discharge of gas from the upper portion of the retort will not occur until the pressure of the said gas has risen by a corresponding amount. The difference between the pressures at the upper portion of the generator and at the upper portion of the retort thus remains substantially the same.

The accompanying drawing is a vertical section through a retort and generator provided with a device constructed for the purpose in uestion.

The o -take pipe a ofthe c rbonizing retort b is water sealed in vessel or pot c, the 11d of which. has a depending partition d dividing the, pot into two equal compartments. The volatile products escaping from the retort pass away from the left hand Comparo Serial No. M3222 ment by pipe c, while the right hand com- Y artment is connected, above the water level, y pipe f with the upper portion of the water gas generator y.

Coal or other carbonaceous material is fed into the retort 7) by means of a charging lovice L. Air for the blow period is admit- Ited by means of the pipe c, and steam for the run period is admitted by means of the pipe m. During the blow perlod the gaseous products from the generator g are Iconveyed through channels n by the pipe n to heating llues o by way of the flue p, sccondary air being admitted by llues g, and the waste gases pass out by way ofthe pipe r.

The gas pressure in the right hand compartment of the pot c varies with that in the upper portion of the generator, wherefore the level of the water in the left hand compartment similarly varies and the relationship between the pressure at the upper portion of the retort and' that at the upper portion of the generator remains substantially constant.

I claim :N

l.. A gas plant for the total gasication of fuel, comprising a retort for the carbonization of fuel, a gas generator into which the carbonixed fuel is directly discharged, a vessel containing two columns of liquid norn mally in equilibrium, a delivery pipe having one end opening intorjhe upper portion of said retort and having its other end extend-- ing into and sealed by one of said columns of liquid to cause the volatile products of the carbonization to pass through said col umn of liquid and'to escape from the surface of the latter, and a duct for transmitting elastic fluid pressure from the upper portion of the generator to the surface oit the other column of liquid.

2. In a gas plant for the total gasification of fuel including a carbonizing retort and a gas generator, of the kind herein referred to, a water seal pot divided into equal com partments having free communication for passage of water between them, the. outlet pipe of the retort being sealed in one com partment from which the volatile products escape, and a communicating conduit be tween the other compartment, above the water level, and the top of the generator.

Irl-'testimony whereof have signed niv name to this specification.

ARTHUR menacent overeen..

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